Home Health Aide Charged with Stealing from 90-Year-Old Assisted Living Resident to Buy Gas, Donuts and Trinkets

Kaiti Nasasha Swain, a 32-year-old home health aide, was arrested on two felony charges on accusations that she stole hundreds of dollars from a 90-year-old man she was caring for at HarborChase of Palm Coast, the senior living–or assisted living–facility off Palm Harbor Parkway. 

The alleged victim first noticed $30 and a credit card missing from his wallet shortly after he’d had family over for Thanksgiving. He’d left the wallet in his room while spending time with family elsewhere in the facility. 

When he checked his bank statement in early December, he noticed that the card had been used to make numerous purchases he’d not made himself, in places he never goes–at businesses in Palatka including Wawa, Winn-Dixie, Dollar General and Marshalls, at gas stations, at Starbucks in Palm Coast and other restaurants, and through online businesses, including Apple. The total added up to $664, plus the stolen cash. 

He reported the thefts to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and an investigation began. When a detective met with HarborChase Palm Coast Director Rylanda Powell, she said she “had suspicions” that Swain “may have been responsible for the theft,” according to Swain’s arrest report. There’d been no reported thefts prior to her employment. She was working the day of the cash theft, was assigned to the alleged victim’s care, and had access to his room. 

The majority of the credit card thefts occurred in Palatka and elsewhere Putnam County between Nov. 29 and Dec. 4. Swain lives in Pomona Park, in Putnam. 

There, the detective secured surveillance video footage at Winn-Dixie, Wawa and other businesses that showed Swain making specific purchases that turned up on the victim’s statement, in one case–at the Roses discount store in Palatka–providing her phone number for rewards points. The number she provided was her own. 

The surveillance footage in every case showed her pulling the victim’s bank card from her purse, and driving the gray Dodge van registered to her.

“This woman abused her position of trust and authority as a home health aide for gas, donuts and trinkets,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release. 

The charges she faces are each a third-degree felony with a maximum penalty, on conviction, of five years in prison each, though first-time offenders ordinarily don’t face that steep a penalty. Swain was booked at the jail on New Year’s Eve and released the same afternoon on $10,000 bond. 

The Sheriff’s Office “reminds you to always verify any person or company you employ, especially to care for a senior or allow into your home.  You can check with the Florida Department of Health.”